30 March 2014

Sunday Stash and Giveaway

How do you order your fabrics?  I order mine with a purpose in mind and sometimes I get a little disappointed when the fabric comes in and it is not what I was expecting.  I do my homework on a lot of the fabrics I buy, I look at many different websites try to find the cheapest price but also any help in discovering the true color like going to the designers websites to see what they say about their collections.

One recent disappointment came in the form of Indian Summer by Sarah Watson.
Top fabrics: Menagerie in Timberwolf and Menagerie in Onyx
Bottom: Black and White Crosswords Puzzle from Timeless Treasures
I put it there to show you that the Indian Summer prints are not true white, the print on the left is a cream color with a light tan animal print (not grey like "advertised") and the onyx print is a dirty white with a blue black animal print, both are hard to pair with other fabrics and they don't even pair with each other very well.  I don't understand what the designer was doing, I like the print I just am not in love with the color choices she used.

Now onto an awesome win and I see that the other winner also posted her pictures and is also having a giveaway, we both won a half yard bundle of 4 prints from Kate Quilts of AOI has 2 Sisters by Alexander Henry.
The crazy thing is that I had seen this print in January and really debated buying it for a bag and now that I won the fabrics I just might do it,
What do you think would it look cute or what as a Sound Check bag like my Collage one.
Plus just look at these little girls holding butterfly balloons,
Multiple colors in these prints and they are all so pretty and bright, sorry for the dark photos it has been rainy and foggy here the last couple of days.

Join me over at Sunday Stash to see what other people are stashing and also check out my giveaway and new sewing space on yesterday's blog post.

8 comments:

Lorna McMahon said...

Sorry to hear you were disappointed with your Indian Summer prints, Mara. Hope you will find the perfect project for them and grow to love them as you are working with them! Congratulations on your win from Kate Quilts. Those would look great as a Sound Check bag!

Kacey said...

Congrats on your win! Those little girls are really cute :-)

riddleandwhimsy said...

With a colour description of "timberwolf" or "onyx", I would have thought of grey and black, myself!

I usually look at different sites for the fabric swatches to see how different they are -- not only colour, but some also depict a larger swatch or have measurements so you can see how big the print actually is.

Lisa in Port Hope said...

Your winnings would be lovely as a bag, but otherwise would be great fussy cut into quilt blocks.

patchouli moon studio said...

Mara colors on the computer can be hard to get the true color. Some of the color depends on your computer, the camera, the lighting, etc. But my solution for fabric that you don't like the color is to over dye it or if it's a dark color like black to discharge bleach some of the color out. Discharging can reveal colors under the black like when I discharged a black Kona cotton the under color was a rust color. The colors under the black can vary from manufacturer because in order to get black they usually toss a lot of dye colors into the same dye bath. So there is a bit of mystery behind it and that can be fun.

You can also paint over the fabrics in some areas or the whole fabric. Painting is not toxic like the dyeing is and with little ones, you might not want to deal with dyeing, unless you can set aside a day when they are no home. Just keep in mind if you over dye to be careful with the colors that you choose or you might end up with brown or black. For example, if you have a green fabric and you dye it red, you'll get mud or some sort of brown because green and red are complimentary colors (opposite each other on the color wheel) and complimentary colors will always result in some sort of brown when mixed together. So if you have a green fabric that you don't like, add blue to make it a bluer green or yellow to make it a yellow green or add a darker green, something like that. You can experiment using paints before you experiment with actual dyes, just to get the idea. If it's still not what you like then use it as a quilt backing.

Ella and Nesta said...

I agree with you, sometimes it's really hard ordering fabric without being able to see it or touch it. Touch it because often the quality and thickness can be different from what you expect. I find swaps (like low volume or text fabric swaps) very useful becuase you have a chance to see a lot of different prints and decide if they meet your standards.

Cynthia Brunz Designs said...

Congrats on your win!

I rarely buy fabrics on line as I like to see the true fabrics. Sorry you were disappointed!

DeborahGun said...

it is hard buying fabrics online and not being able to match them well. I do actually love those Indian summer prints (I have the lighter one) - I think they work well as just low volume mixed with other cream/off white fabrics. Not that I have used mine yet!! Love your new additions too - but nothing beats the Collage bag!!